Fujitsu Embraces Midokura for OpenStack Clouds

Fujitsu will start offering Midokura’s network virtualization overlay technology in its OpenStack-based public and private cloud architecture, replacing the OpenStack Neutron plug-in component.

The companies this week announced an expanded OEM partnership in which Fujitsu will integrate the Midokura Enterprise MidoNet (MEM) overlay technology as part of the effort to grow the reach of its private cloud efforts.

The open-source OpenCloud stack is becoming increasingly popular among enterprises that are looking for a simpler way to deploy their private clouds and to avoid vendor lock-in. The networking component of OpenStack—the Neutron Open vSwitch (OVS)—is considered a weak point, especially in the area of scalability.

Midokura last year open-sourced MEM to accelerate the adoption of the technology within the OpenStack community. The company earlier this year enhanced the enterprise edition of the software, offering greater support not only for OpenStack but also for VMware and Red Hat solutions. In May, Midokura enhanced MEM again, including adding support for OpenStack’s Kilo release and for container-based environments like Docker.

MEM is designed to create a software-based network abstraction layer that sits between the host and physical network. Using MidoNet, enterprises can run their networks on low-cost and simple commodity systems. Midokura officials said that given how MEM is deployed, it’s a much more scalable offering than the OVS plug-in, an important consideration when running highly virtualized cloud environments.

Fujitsu will now integrate MEM into its cloud solutions. Fujitsu, which is a contributor to the MidoNet open-source project, will be able to use the input from its user community to help enhance features in the Midokura technology.

Fujitsu isn’t the only major tech vendor that leverages Midokura’s technology. Dell officials in December 2014 said they were offering MEM on both the company’s networking hardware and its x86 servers—part of Dell’s larger Open Networking initiative—to enable customers to more easily build OpenStack-based cloud networking infrastructures. Dell also is offering a solution that includes its Open Networking switches with MEM and Cumulus Networks’ Linux operating system.